Freedom of Captured and Restricted Mind
by PuyoPuyoBoy
Summary: When a young human meets a Yukari,  he signs a contract that allows him to be free in Gensokyo, as long as she is able to use him when she needs it. But when she attempts to use his new powers for evil, will he be able to stop her? Let's find out!
1. Border Between Old and New Life

Freedom of a Captured and Restricted Mind

Chapter One

Nicholas ran a hand along the cool, dew-covered grass, feeling the blades brush and tickle against his fingers. He took a heavy sigh of relief. The blonde leaned against a rock, rubbing the round black bruise on his face. He groaned.

"Ow..." He had been chased home from school again._ Why...? Why do they hate me..? _Nicholas thought to himself, readjusting his glasses, looking over the cliff to the sunset. The teenager let his view sink, to the cold ocean below his dangling feet. He looked to his left, to see the small book, colored a leathery brown, a golden star shining glossily on the cover. "Sometimes it's like your my only friend..." He said, standing up, picking up the book.

"Your quite lonely, aren't you?"

"EH!" Nicholas said, nearly leaping out of his skin. He whipped around, to see a young-looking woman. She had beautiful golden hair, which fell around her shoulders, and she had mysterious, shadowy eyes of a similar color to match. She wore a mob cap of light pink, and her dress was a similar color, except with a long purple streak with several trigrams on it, with a multicolored ying-yang orb placed at the bottom. She was gripping a pink parasol in one hand, a white paper fan in the other. She floated, yes, FLOATED in the air just off of the cliff. No strings, no fans, no projectors, nothing. Nicholas was sure she was real. But he was less concerned over how she got there, why she was talking to him, or how she was floating, all he was thinking was_ Is she going to hurt me? _Nicholas took a step back.

The woman laughed throatily, she couldn't help but grin. She looked similar to that of a goddess, the way the sunlight was hitting her. "Do not be afraid." She said, hoping to calm the blonde boy. "I am not here to hurt you." She hovered down to the grass edge of the cliff, closing her parasol. The teenager took another step back, trembling in fear. "What if I told you that there was a place you could go where nobody hated you. Where you could have a fresh start. A world unfamiliar to you, a world untouched by this place."

"Wha...What? What are you t-talking about..?" He stammered, standing up a little straighter. But secret, he was pondering what she was saying. _A world where no one hates me? A fresh start? What kind of place is that? Does that place even exist?_

"I'm talking about a world where vampires own mansions, a world where an ordinary person can cast a magic spell that causes a giant rainbow laser to come out of no where. A place where little girls fly around and try to assimilate each other with these magical bullets called Danmaku!" The woman said, using her arms to make dramatic motions. "A world...called..."

"..Gensokyo.."

"Gensokyo?"

"Gensokyo."

"But...how are we supposed to get to another world?"

"That's a silly question to ask the youkai who manipulates the border between this world and that world."

"Interesting..." Nicholas said. "But there's always a catch to these sort of things. What would I have to do?"

"Nothing too binding, just sign this contract." The young 'youkai' said, before a piece of paper seemed to appear as if being burned in reverse. She held a pen and the paper forward. "It simply says that once I've released you into Gensokyo, If I ever need something from you, you will do what I ask, when I ask it." Nicholas took a step back at the commanding undertone in her voice. "But don't worry, I have two servants, so I might not need your help often."

Nicholas took one last look at her, pausing, but soon signed the contract in her hand, albeit hesitating slightly. As soon as he lifted the pen from the paper, the yellowed parchment burned up again. "Thank you, Nicholas Paige. Now, to seal the deal." The woman flicked her wrist, and all of the suddenly, smoky, purple, chains erupted from the ground, puffs of shadowy air blowing off it in a similar fashion to that of dry ice. The chains gripped at his body, two around his wrists, two around his ankles, and a single one around his throat. Nicholas could not move for a second, but the chains quickly disappeared. "What the-!" He said, as the chains dispersed. He moved his body around, but the chains had seemed to just leave, giving him full control of his body once more. But he would never forget that one terrifying moment where his body was chained up similarly to that of an animal's.

"Now step over to the cliff." Stated the blonde youkai, and Nicholas did as he was told, looking down into the murky black and blue waters, dimming as the sunlight sunk into the distance more and more. Then, the woman jumped.

"AH!" Nicholas said, trying to grab her, but she fell anyway, but as she fell, she swung her hand, her thin, pale fingers tearing across the air, creating a small rip in the fabric of space and time, a gap, if you will. She stopped falling next to it, her descent slowing to a gentle stop. She held onto the edges, where bright red ribbons held the edges closed.

"Simply jump."

Nicholas, without hesitation, leaped from the cliff. He had no idea what made him do it. Maybe it was the Youkai woman, maybe it was his own will. He had no idea. But as he latched onto the edge, he only had one question in mind.

"What is your name?"

"Yakumo."

And with that, Nicholas was left to fall, endlessly and forevermore, spiraling throughout the low gravity within the gap, no light, only pulsating colors of red and purple, eyes blinking and watching him. The boy blinked his eyes shut. And the fall seemed to last even longer. But soon, he was met by a brush of cool ri, and the scenerey around him seemed to be lighter. He was no longer tumbling through the air, rather, he was slowly hovering downward, still curled up in a ball, towards a floor. He opened his eyes, to see...shelves. Shelves..and books. Books upon books, lined near windows, stacked close to tables, lying open near melted candles. If Nicholas didn't know better, he would have thought he had died and gone to heaven. That was when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Who are you?" came a thin, yet powerful voice from behind him. Nicholas whipped around, to see a young girl, short in stature, wearing what looked like a purple nightgown, and long hair of violet, tied with multicolored ribbons.

"Eh..?" He asked, looking down at her, She was shorter than him, but only by three or so inches.

"State your name and business."

"My name is...Nicholas...and..." He said, stuttering. This girl was short, but the air she brought about her was sinister, and powerful.

"And..?" Retorted the girl, obviously annoyed that someone was invading HER library. "And this lady with blonde hair made me come here."

"Ah...So it was her then."

"Uhm...Yes?"

The woman was angry now, she turned around, breathing heavily. _That Marisa. _She thought, her eyebrows bunching up in rage. _I can't believe it, that girl was already stealing my books. Now she's so lazy she sends a LACKEY after me! Does she think I'm THAT easy to steal from! Every time she comes she barely escapes with her left leg! Grrr... _The girl turned around. "Well, you tell her to PISS OFF!" It was rare of her to use obscenities, but her anger forced her to do it.

"What is wrong, Lady Patchouli?" came another quiet voice, this time much clearer, but equally as soft. Out from behind a shelf came a young girl, who looked like she was sixteen, with red hair, and a black outfit, and black bat wings sticking out from her back and from the sides of her head.

"Nothing is wrong, Koakuma. Just an intruder from _her_." 'Patchouli' grit her teeth angrily as she said that. "Just go back to your dusting."

"Are you sure, ma'am? I can help dispose of this 'Marisa' servant for you, if you wish." The red-haired girl replied shyly.

"Yes. Now go!"

"Auu~! Yes ma'am!" 'Koakuma' said, before running off, feather duster in hand.

"Who's Marisa?"

"You mean...you don't know the name of the person who sent you here?"

"Yes I do. She said her name was Yakumo."

"Oh, so she's gone and told you that she's Yukari, eh?" She said, angrily. "Well, y'know what? You are not stealing any of my books!" She was screaming now.

"But I-" Nicholas said, but was cut off by a knife nearly stabbing him in the head, instead jabbing the book right next to him.

"Is there a problem, Patchouli?" said a woman in a maid's dress, who had silver hair, tied into neat braids..

"In fact, Sakuya, there is." Patchouli said, before pointing an accusing finger directly at Nicholas. "Marisa sent him here." She said, still pointing.

Sakuya nodded. "I will quickly dispose of him." Sakuya faded away in a flash of green light. Suddenly, knives. Everywhere, all in front of Nicholas, all floating, all aimed from different angles, all aimed at the blonde. Sakuya, now standing next to Nicholas, opened the first she held tightly shut, and then, the knives flew forward, stabbing all around Nicholas, none making direct contact, but a few giving him some cuts as they grazed sharply against his skin. Nicholas winced, dropping to his knees, hurt, but still alive, and generally alright.

"Dammit." Sakuya said, clutching her fist. It was rare for her to miss like that, so severely, usually she can knife them at least in the arm or the stomach.

"Unnnh..." Nicholas moaned, obviously hurting from the cuts, especially a pretty deep gash in his right forearm, but mostly from the inner turmoil going on inside his head. _I'm gonna die...I'm gonna die...I'm gonna die..._

Sakuya pulled another knife out from within her dress, and tossed it at Nicholas, and this time, she didn't miss. The knife lodged itself deep within Nicholas' stomach, and he collapsed unmoving, except for his hand twitching, and his quiet, yet heavy breath as he gasped for oxygen. His body emptied itself, blood pooling more and more on the cold tile. Sakuya walked up to him, her shoe two centimeters from his face. The silver-haired maid, held up the knife in her hand above her head, ready to plunge it deep into Nicholas' head, ending his life. Nicholas clenched his fist, shutting his eyes, just waiting for the sweet embrace of darkness known as death.

"Shikigami Radiance! Princess Tenko -Illusion- !"

...That was the last voice Nicholas heard, before darkness swept him away into slumber.

"Nicholas...Nicholas..." came a quiet, soothing voice, almost like a little girl's. "Are you alright?"

"Chen!" came a much more gruff voice. "Be more careful, he's injured."

"Sorry, Ran-sama."

"It's alright."

"What did Ms. Yagokoro say?"

"Eirin says he'll be fine."

Nicholas peeked open his eyes to see a large room. He was lying in an incredibly soft bed, with white sheets, tinted pink by the red curtains, which where closed. All the walls were red, and there were three doors. One led outside, but Nicholas wasn't sure what the other two did. Upon looking down, he realized that his clothes had been replaced with pink, pajamas, and a nightcap was placed upon his head. Attached to his left sleeve was one of those old-timey pocket watches. What was next to him was quite a sight. A tall, powerful-looking woman of dirty blonde hair, wore a double-pointed hat that was white with yellow talismans. He outfit was similarly to that woman, Yakumo's out fit, except white, and the streak down the middle was blue, not purple, and no ying-yang orbs. Standing next to her, was a young girl with brown hair. a green cap, a cat tail split in two, a red dress, and two cat ears with a golden earring in one.

"Who..Who're you?" The blonde boy asked, attempting to sit up, but wincing at the sudden aches and pains all over his body, he lied down again, barely able to move. The tall, young woman came up.

"I am...Yakumo."


	2. Meeting the Residents

Freedom of a Captured and Restricted Mind

Chapter Two

"Y-Yakumo!" Nicholas said, a bit shocked, but also slightly dazed. "B-but...Your...different from..her...HUH!" Nicholas continued to stammer like this for a few more minutes, eventually losing control of his voice and started producing random confused whining noises.

"Relax, Young one." Yakumo 2 said, placing a hand on his shoulder, and that seemed to calm him down somewhat. "The one you spoke with was Yukari Yakumo. I am simply her shikigami, Ran."

The young cat girl ran up next to Ran, and did a little twirl. "And I'm Ran-sama's shikigami, Super Chen the Awesome!"

"Chen! What have I told you about being boastful?"

"Sorry, Ran-sama."

"It's alright." Ran patted the young cat girl, Chen, on the head lightly.

"So...Chen is the shikigami of a shikigami...more importantly, what is a shikigami?"

"I'll explain later. Right now, just tell me, are you alright, Nicholas?"

"Yes, I'm fine. But I'm a little nauseous...what happened? Everything seems like a blur.."

"That's just the anesthesia. Basically, Yukari sent you through the gap to the Scarlet Devil Mansion's Library, where you met Patchouli Knowledge, the youkai librarian, and her assistant Koakuma. Apparently, she thought you were sent by a thief who regularly steals books here. You just happened to be there when the knife-throwing, time-stopping, chest-padding maid Sakuya Izayoi was passing by, delivering tea to her master. She must of heard Patchouli yelling, and then stopped by to-" Ran was cut off by two knives whizzing past her head, jabbing into the walls on the opposite side of the room.

"I DO NOT PAD MY CHEST! THEY ARE REAL!"

"She's lying."

"I AM NOT!" Sakuya shouted angrily, before storming off, the loud slamming of her feet against the floor ringing throughout the mansion.

"...As I was saying...Sakuya had stopped by to see if anything was wrong, and there she found you. One thing led to another, and you were nearly stabbed to death by knives. But they mostly missed, thanks to Yukari's small amount of power that she instilled in you when you signed her contract. Then, out of frustration, she managed to give you a pretty nasty wound in your stomach. She was all ready to kill you, when I stopped her with this Spell Card." She said, holding up a small slip of paper. It had a picture of a person on it, shooting off several rings of butterflies, and a large blue-white orb that was followed by several smaller, yet much more clustered orbs.

"Spell...Card?" Nicholas said, still a little drowsy and weak from the medicine.

"Yes, a Spell Card. I"ll explain these too. But for now, you must rest."

"But...but..." Nicholas said, trying to sit up, but failing again as pain rushed through his body again. "Unhhh..." He moaned, laying back down.

"Nicholas. Do not strain yourself." Ran said, placing a hand on his forehead. "Please..go to sleep. We have much to do when your more able."

Despite how much Nicholas wanted to disobey, Ran placed her hand over his eyes, closing them both, and Nicholas fell into a cold, dreamless sleep.

"Come on, sis! I wanna play with the little passed out boy!"

"No, Flan. He's asleep. If I let you play with him, you might exaggerate his injuries."

"But I wanna play with him!"

"No! I'm sorry, Flan."

"LET ME PLAY WITH HIM!"

"Wait...Flan...where did you get you Laevatein?"

"I stole it back from Sakuya."

"B-But...How!"

"Forget it! Spell Card!"

"Not if I stop you! Spell Card!"

"Divine Punishment! 「Young De-!"

"Taboo! 「Laevatein」!"

Nicholas was awoken from his silent slumber by two colorful flashes of light. His eyes popped open to see two girls. One was around the same height has Patchouli, wearing a mob cap and dress, both pink, like Yukari, but with red trimming around it, as well as light blue hair, and two black bat wings that looked slightly similar to Koakuma's. She was shooting out fizzling sparks of yellow and light blue sparks, as her incantation had been interrupted by another girl, who Nicholas assumed was Flan, who had blonde hair and a white mob cap tied by a red ribbon, and another crimson ribbon tied her blonde hair into a neat side ponytail. Nicholas couldn't get a good look of what she was wearing, because she was enshrouded in a dark red mist. She was holding what looked to him like a curved, rusted weather vane, but he could not tell. All of the sudden, a glowing beam of light exploded forward, and the other girl ducked below it, doing a motion similar to a break dancer to avoid the laser, which left little red diamond-shapes in the air, which clumped up, following the laser. The younger girl was knocked back as the shapes hit her.

"Uwaaah!" She screamed, crashing into a wall, giving it a good sized dent. "Alright, so that's how you wanna play? Eat danmaku, Flandre!" The young-looking bat girl, pointing a finger at Flan. What looked like a bright red bat launched forward from her hand, and another, and another. The mist around the blonde suddenly faded, revealing her her outfit revealing her red dress, and her matching red vest, with a yellow ribbon tied around her neck, acting similarly to a tie. But what was really eye catching was her wings, unlike the other girl's, her wings were black steel poles, with hanging colorful crystals in the order of a rainbow. Her wings, although obviously metal, flapped as if regular, organic wings.

"Hah!" Flandre laughed, dodging the glowing crimson bats. But what she wasn't expecting was for the bats to spiral around behind her. "I shall defeat you Remili-AAAAAAAAH!" Flandre screamed, as the bats exploded against her back, an she dropped to the floor. "Dammit..." She groaned, getting up, obviously angry now, he sleeves a little torn from the explosions. "Forbidden Barrage!"

Suddenly, Remilia noticed that Nicholas was awake, and was watching with a terrified look on his face. "Wait, Flandre! Don't-!"

"Starbow..."

"No!"

"BREAK!"

Remilia leaped forward, just Flandre threw the card up into the air. Then, Flandre pretty much erupted into white smoke, as the world around them distorted severely, and streams of rainbow orbs flew everywhere. Remilia landed next to Nicholas, and wrapped her arms around his head, shielding him as more and more colorful danmaku exploded around them. Remilia winced at the sheer power of the danmaku against her body. Flandre finished off her assault with a blood-curdling scream, before collapsing onto the ground, worn out from using that spell card. Remilia looked down at Nicholas, grinning. "Are you alright...?"

"Yes...Th...Thank you.."

"No problem...and one more thing."

"Huh..?"

"My name is Remilia Scarlet. Welcome to the Scarlet Devil Mansion."

After getting Nicholas into some better clothes, a white t-shirt with short black sleeves, with a red stripe along the sides, and black shorts with similar stripes around each leg(which Sakuya had purchased of Kourindou when she was in the area.), the two walked along the wooden floors of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, leaving Flandre passed out on the floor in the other room. Nicholas looked with amazement at the long hallways, the thousands of doors, the crimson walls that glinted in the early morning sunlight. But he couldn't ignore one thing. It was COLD. And all throughout the house, he couldn't see any light bulbs, or flashlights or any form of light source other than candles, assorted lanterns, and lamps that seemed to glow at the touch.

"Say...where are all the light bulbs? The fluorescent lamps? The artificial lighting fixtures that you plug into a socket and then they light up?" Nicholas asked, confused.

"Oh, I remember. Your from the outside world. I'm sorry to say we have none of that here. Gensokyo is a few years behind when it comes to technology." Remilia said, as they continued walking.

"Eh? No TVs, No computers, Nothing?" Nicholas' jaw dropped, shocked. He could barely imagine a world without the technology he'd grown up with.

"Well, Yukari has a television at her house, but she lives up in the mountains. The only way to get there is by flying." Remilia explained.

"Bu-Bu-But...You and Flandre are the only one's I've seen with wings. How on earth can anyone else fly!"

"Only people with decent magic skills can fly. Like Patchouli. She's been around for at least a hundred years, so she's had plenty of time to learn how to fly."

"A hundred! She looks like she's ten! Or even less!" Nicholas continued, flinging his arms around. But he had no idea why he was so comfortable around Remilia. Considering the excitement of the whole time while he was here, it could have been a few days or just a couple of hours. Due to all the excitement of the past, he should be more terrified then a mouse about to be executed for eating cheese. But maybe it was because of all the excitement, that it was a refreshing change to meet someone as level-headed as Remilia. Little did he know he was about to walk into a wall. And so he walked into a wall. "Ow."

"Oops, Sorry. Forgot to tell you. There's a wall there." Remilia stifled a laugh.

_Would've been nice to know that five seconds ago._ Nicholas thought sharply, pulling himself off the wall. The two continued on walking, passing door after door. Remilia continued pointing out the assorted rooms. "Kitchen, Dining Room, Bathroom, Other Bathroom, Bedroom, Bedroom, Library, Bedroom..." Remilia explained, but Nicholas had stopped at the large double doors that she had called Library. Without thinking Nicholas reached for the knob, and gently creaked the door open.

"Rainbow Sign! 「Wind Chime of Colorful Rainbow」!"

"Metal & Water Sign! 「Mercury Poison」!"

"Oh Crap Sign!「Ducking Right Now」!" Nicholas said jokingly, flopping to the floor, as various orbs of gold and blue, as well as rainbow colored diamond-shapes spiraled over his head.

"Mistress! What are you doing with this person?" said a woman in a revealing green outfit, with long red hair, and a green hat with a Chinese character that Nicholas could not make out. Not that his Chinese skills were anything to brag about. "Shall I get rid of him?"

"Wait, China! Don't-!" Before Remilia could finish, 'China' leaped from her spot, which just happened to be floating above the table.

"Meep." Nicholas whispered, before tilting his head to the side, causing China to miss completely.

"Meiling!" Patchouli said, hopping up from her position of wielding a chair from the floor awkwardly, soaring across the ceiling, out the door to the opposite side of the hall, where China had put a particularly nasty hole in the wall.

"I'm fine." 'Meiling' coughed, standing up, clearing the smoke away. "A youkai like me can handle worse then missing a lackey of Marisa."

"Seriously, Who is Marisa?" Nicholas asked, looking to Remilia. Remilia sighed.

"Just a thief who steals Patchouli's books. Quite often, surprisingly."

"But shouldn't someone with magic skills that nearly blew my head off be able to blow this petty thief 'Marisa' to bits?" Nicholas asked, confused.

"Well, in theory, yes. But Marisa is crafty. She steals my books and half the time I don't notice until she slips up somehow. Which she always does." Patchouli said, dusting off her pajama-like clothes off, the debris collapsing from her outfit to the floor. "And while I may be able to blow your head off, she's much more experienced with danmaku. She's managed to defeat Lady Remilia on three separate occasions."

"Well, Miss Remilia seems pretty powerful from what I've seen." Nicholas said, remembering how she had defended him, and looked like she had simply fallen down on the playground.

"Miss? Oh that's polite of you." Remilia said, smiling up at Nicholas.

"Oh, it's the least I can do for someone who was kind enough let me rest here, AND protected me from their psychotic sister who looked powerful enough to cause the next Armageddon." Nicholas said, smiling back. But their exchange of smiles was short lived, interrupted by four, simple words.

"Love Sign! 「Master Spark」!"


End file.
